Buildings that changed Texas

These 11 structures scattered across the Lone State State are more than just buildings, they forever changed Texas. Learn from architecture professor Stephen Fox how the buildings helped shape the state.

By Houston Chronicle Web Staff

on May 17, 2013 11:13 AM

Image 1of/12

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 12

West Columbia Elementary School

What Fox said: The school was built in 1951 by Donald Barthelme & Assoc. It is significant because it is the most important modern public school building constructed in Texas in 1950s. The building represents a time when the design of public schools was emerging from a field of young modern architects.

West Columbia Elementary School
What Fox said : The school... Photo-4641889.62574 - Houston Chronicle

Image 2 of 12

Pennzoil Place

What Fox said: The Houston building, which was built in 1976, changed the course of high-rise building design in Texas, the U.S., and ultimately internationally. It was designed by NYC architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee for Houston developer Gerald D. Hines.

What Fox said: The Texas Women's University chapel in Denton was built in 1939 by O'Neil Ford and Arch. B. Swank, Jr. It represents Depression relief projects of the New Deal focused on non-denominational chapel at the public university. Ford is the Texas architect most strongly identified with the effort to formulate a Regional Texan architecture in the 1930s. Photo: LibAmanda, Flickr

What Fox said: The Houston museum was built in 1987 by Renzo Piano and Richard Fitzgerald. It is regarded as one of the greatest works of art museum architecture of 20th century, one that has had a profound effect on the design of subsequent museums since its completion in 1987. Designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano for Houston collector Dominique de Menil.

What Fox said: The Galveston building was built in 1892 and was designed by N. J. Clayton & Co. It was significant as a symbol of wealth produced in 19th-century Texas by trade and transportation technology. The wealthy used architecture to monumentalize individual capital accumulation.

What Fox said: The Alamo, which was built between the 1750s-1780s, is significant as the first Franciscan mission in Texas, built by indigenous master builders; as a battle site during Texas war of independence; and as the object of 19th and 20th-century historic preservation and interpretation initiatives.

What Fox said: The capitol, which was built in 1889 by E. E. Myers, is significant as an architectural icon of the state. The building represents the 19th-century "colonial" economy of Texas in terms of its design, financing and construction, which Texans sought to compensate for symbolically with super-size and Texas granite material construction.

Texas State Capitol What Fox said : The capitol, which was... Photo-4641813.62574 - Houston Chronicle

Image 9 of 12

Ellis County Courthouse

What Fox said: The Waxahachie building, which was built in 1895 by J. Riely Gordon, is generally regarded as the most architecturally significant of Texas' 19th-century county courthouses. It represents the wealth produced in small Texan towns by the cotton-based economy of the late 19th and early 20th-centuries. Photo: Trevor.Huxham, Flickr

What Fox said: The Fort Worth museum was built in 1971 and designed by Louis I. Kahn and Preston M. Geren & Assoc. It is considered the greatest work of architecture in Texas and one of the greatest buildings internationally of the 20th century.

What Fox said: The Dallas shopping center was built in 1965 by Harrell & Hamilton and Eero Saarinen & Assoc. When completed in 1965, NorthPark was the largest shopping mall in U.S. Built by developer Raymond Nasher and still owned and managed by his family, it remains a spectacular civic and cultural center in Dallas, as well as its most stylish retail center. Photo: WorkingTitle/Gallery 3940, Flickr